Iridescence
by sweaterweather21
Summary: A moment in the life of the next generation - captured by a colorful snapshot.  No pairings, for the Poetic Color Challenge, and several others.
1. Aqua

Iridescence  
><strong>Chapter One: Aqua<strong>

{Poetic Colors Challenge on HPFC, Prompt & Person on JoeCool989's Forum – In A World That Revolves Around Harry Potter}

_Teddy Lupin_

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><p><em>July 2, 2004<em>

"Go, Ginny! I love you!" The old man cheered wildly, throwing his wrinkly arms in the air.

Harry just chuckled at his godson, who was currently sporting a potbelly, crinkly blue eyes, and thinning gray hair.

Changing his appearance like a random person was a game Teddy loved to play, especially when it involved being in public. Harry humored him for the most part; it was innocent and quite entertaining, at least for the time being. In a way it was a comfort knowing that some part of Tonks still existed in the little boy.

Teddy loved spending his weekends with Uncle Harry, especially when they went to Aunt Ginny's Quidditch matches. At only 5 years old, he already knew the names and position of all the starters on the Holyhead Harpies.

It was semi-final of the Quidditch World Cup, therefore, fairly exciting, but Teddy was only a five year old boy. He didn't have the longest attention span, and Harry could tell that he was starting to get restless. "Would you like to get some ice cream, Ted?" Harry offered.

The old man nodded his head and reached for Harry's hand as they descended the steps from the box seating headed for the sign promising "Immortal Ice Cream – It Never, Ever Melts!"

"What flavor would you like?" The vendor questioned, a big smile plastered on his face.

Teddy pretended to read the sign, while actually looking at the different colors of ice cream. Several minutes passed, and he was still indecisive. Finally, he made his choice.

"Banana!" "Dreamsicle!" "Wait, no, Rocky Road!"

The vendor kept smiling, but there was a distinct impression of confusion directed toward the excited old man in front of him. "So, what will it be?"

"All of them, please!"

The vendor looked toward Harry, recognizing that Harry took care of the old man. "Teddy!" Harry glanced toward his godson, "Pick one, please."

"But Uncle Harry," Teddy pouted, unhappy. "I can't decide."

"How about banana? That's your favorite flavor!"

"No!"

Luckily, Harry was a patient man. "Rocky Road, then?"

"No!"

"Dreamsicle?"

"No! All of them!"

Looking straight at Teddy, Harry replied calmly, "Teddy, for the last time, pick one. If you can't we just won't get any."

"Uncle Harry! NO!" Teddy screamed.

The vendor put down his scoop and sat down, realizing that this was beyond his influence. Harry led Teddy to the men's room, which was, thankfully, deserted.

"What was that all about, Ted?" Harry questioned gently.

Teddy's disguise melted off as the little boy rubbed his eyes. Crinkled skin slowly straightened out until it was smooth, gray hair thickened and changed to a sandy brown color, and the potbelly seemed to melt until it was only a slightly chubby tummy.

"Nothing." Teddy had inherited Harry's stubbornness. It didn't seem to matter that the two weren't related by blood.

"Do you want to go home?"

"No," Teddy replied, using as few words as possible.

Harry sighed, feeling the burden of being a parent. "Fine, we'll tell Ginny we saw her game when she gets home."

"Nooooo! I wanna stay and watch!"

"Sorry, Teddy. You're overtired, we're going home."

* * *

><p>The moon was really big and bright tonight, Teddy decided as he stared out the window, purposefully not looking at Harry.<p>

"Why were you so grumpy today, Teddy?"

Teddy didn't turn away from the window. He gave a little shrug, not wanting to tell his uncle the real reason why.

"Well maybe you could tell me why you're not an old man anymore?" Harry continued, oblivious to the fact that he had just answered his own question.

Teddy couldn't hold it in any longer. A small tear escaped the corner of his eye; he quickly wiped it away. "Something's wrong with me, Harry. The metamorphmagus isn't working!"

Harry looked confused momentarily before responding. "I'm sure that's not true, Ted. You're probably just overtired or sick or something. You should get some sleep."

There was a look in Teddy's eyes, though, that told Harry faintly recognized.

Teddy looked toward the window again, and then it dawned on Harry.

It was a full moon.

Clearly, Teddy had inherited something from his mother – his metamorphmagus powers. So it made sense that he would inherit something from his father – crankiness around the full moon.

Teddy could sense something was up, and he interrupted Harry's thought process. "What?" he asked, a bit irritated.

"Nothing, Teddy. You'll understand when you're older."

This only further enraged the little boy, and Harry took this as his cue to leave. "Goodnight, Teddy. I hope you feel better in the morning."

Quietly, Harry stood up, flicked the lights off, and closed the door halfway, just where Teddy preferred it. Pausing outside the room, he closed his eyes for a moment, trying to remember when things weren't so complicated and hoping that Teddy would be better in the morning.

* * *

><p>True enough, Teddy was back to himself the next day, looking like a surfer with his shaggy blond hair, tan skin, and aqua eyes.<p>

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><p><strong>an: **I'm officially addicted to entering challenges :P What can I say? Anyway, this is for the Poetic Colors Challenge on HPFC, and I had an idea to use the color as a prompt for each of the Next Gen. Most of these will also probably be combined with other challenges and competitions, so this should be an interesting mix of chapters ;D I can't promise that this will be updated on a regular schedule, but I can say that right now I'm working on Lucy Weasley next! Thanks for reading :)


	2. Steel

Iridescence  
><strong>Chapter Two: Steel<strong>

{Poetic Colors Challenge, Photo Album Competition on HPFC}

_Molly Weasley II_

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><p><em>August 2, 2020<em>

Laden with several brown paper grocery bags, Audrey Weasley struggled to open the front door.

"Girls! Are you ready to make your father's birthday cake?"

"Oh yes, yes, yes, mummy!" Little Lucy Weasley nearly screamed with delight. "It'll have pink and purple frosting and we can put some of those little flowers around the edges—oh, it'll be so pretty! And what about some butterflies, too! Oh mum, we can-"

Her older sister cut her off. At 9 years old, Molly was the voice of reason and all too willing to override her younger sister's fantasies.

"If you didn't realize, Luce, Dad isn't a girl." This did the trick; Lucy looked crestfallen.

Audrey sent Molly a look, and Molly felt a small wave of guilt. But it wasn't enough to wash away the feeling that she always had to be so delicate around Lucy. After all, Lucy was seven years old now, a big girl, but she couldn't even be upstairs by herself without wanting someone else with her. When Molly was seven, she could walk by herself to her park across the street and back.

"Come here, Molly, and hold the bowl while Lucy stirs," Audrey called.

Molly sighed, but obediently approached the counter and held on to the mixing bowl. "Can I crack the eggs, mum?"

"Sure, sweetie, just let me make sure that you don't leave any shell in them. No one wants to eat a crunchy cake!"

Lucy giggled, a little tinkling laugh that _almost_ made Molly smile.

Of course Molly made sure that the two eggs were shell-free, but Audrey checked them anyway. Then Lucy mixed them into the batter and helped pour it in the cake pan.

Molly got to turn on the oven because, unlike Lucy, she knew that ovens were hot, and could burn you. Lucy didn't know, and cried for an hour when she touched it out of curiosity.

Then Audrey put the cake in the oven and told the girls to go play until it was ready.

Lucy turned to her older sister with a pleading look in her blue eyes. "Play dolls with me, Loll?"

Molly rolled her eyes at the nickname, which came from the time when Lucy couldn't pronounce her 'L's. But try as she might, Molly couldn't resist Lucy _all_ the time. She let Lucy practically drag her into her bedroom, carefully tip-toeing around the elaborate scene that Lucy had set up. It was hard to ignore the smile that engulfed Lucy's face as she handed Molly a dark-haired doll with olive skin. "Her name is Alexa."

"That's a pretty name, "Molly replied before she could help herself, "What's your doll's name?"

Lucy clutched a blond doll wearing a wedding dress. "This is Leah Elizabeth Claire, but Alexa can call her Leah. She's getting married today so she's a little bit nervous and her maid of honor… " Lucy trailed off, but the girls continued. Her skepticisms aside, Molly enjoyed herself so much that their mother had to beckon them three times to come downstairs and frost the cake.

Once the girls had made their way downstairs and washed their hands, Audrey got them started. "I have enough frosting for five colors- which ones would you girls like?"

Lucy's response came immediately. "Pink and purple!"

Molly frowned, trying to think of more boy-ish colors that her dad would like better. "Green and orange," she finally decided.

"And there's one more color to choose, so I pick… red!" Audrey exclaimed, and got out the dyes.

Molly examined the messy little jars carefully. "But Mum, I don't think those colors will go very well together!"

Waving her hand, Audrey continued mixing up the frosting. "It'll look fine, Molls, just wait and see." She passed both her daughters a bowl to mix as well.

They finished after a few minutes, and Audrey passed them both butter knives to spread the frosting- a steel one for Molly and a plastic one for Lucy- a detail that didn't escape Molly.

Lucy got right to work, slathering the top of the cake with purple frosting. Wincing, Molly tried to hold back her tongue, but as usual, she wasn't successful. "Maybe that would look better if you used a different color," she attempted politely. It only made Lucy reach for the pink frosting and her mother shoot another look in Molly's direction.

When her mum wasn't looking, Molly quietly frosted over the purple with orange. Lucy was oblivious.

The sisters continued in this way for a while before Audrey caught on. "Molly Margaret Weasley! Let your sister help!"

Molly looked away guiltily.

By now, there wasn't much frosting left anyway, but Lucy decided to put little fake flower decals on, and Molly couldn't exactly cover those up. Resigning herself to an awkward cake with too much frosting and fake flowers, Molly set her knife down.

Audrey noticed this, "Think it's done, Moll?"

"Yes!" Molly and Lucy answered simultaneously.

"Well, go wash up and change, your father should be here any minute and I'd like to surprise him."

Lucy squealed at the prospect of a surprise, but Molly ushered her along. They changed quickly and rinsed their hands in the bathroom sink before hiding under the dining room table with their mum. "Molly, hold Lucy's hand, I'm going to turn the lights off." Molly did so, trying to disregard the fact that she had stopped being afraid of the dark when she was five.

Audrey was a muggle, but they way she predicted Percy's arrival time seemed magical. They heard a faint 'pop' outside no more than a minute later, followed by the ring of the doorbell. Molly flinched, wanting to go and get it, but she remained sitting on the floor.

Seconds later, Percy Weasley was recognized by the wards and let in. Then Percy turned the lights on with his wand, and then Audrey, Molly, and Lucy jumped up from their hiding spot and began singing "Happy Birthday" to him.

Audrey quickly grabbed her camera and some matches. She lit the candles while Percy levitated the camera, and pulled all of his girls close.

Later they realized that Lucy had frosting on her face and Audrey was partially cut out of the frame, but Molly's holding the multicolored cake with the biggest grin on her face and her dad's arm is draped over her shoulder.

It's still a perfect picture, Molly thinks.

* * *

><p><strong>an: **I know I originally said this would be Lucy Weasley, but Molly kind of took over and I couldn't help it ;) Also, this is from a slightly different timeline than the rest, although it's not that big of a deal.

I have no idea who I'll do next time, so if you have a request or an idea, feel free to PM me or leave it in a review… thanks for reading :)


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